Jewish Agency head predicts aliyah boom will follow coronavirus crisis

Many diaspora communities were under “terrible stress” from financial pressures under lockdown and calls on their services from those in need.

The Agency had so far distributed £5 million in loans to communities abroad from a special coronavirus crisis fund, he told the online forum.

Aliyah from the UK reportedly was down more than half in the first four months of the year compared to 2019 with many people having to postpone their emigration to Israel because of movement restrictions.

But Israel has already begun to ease its lockdown with children returning to school nearly a fortnight ago.

David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, said the state of diaspora Jewry was “not good”, with Jewish illiteracy posing the gravest danger.

He called for Jews to become “fluent in Judaism” through a deep understanding of “our past, our heritage and our legacy”.

Doing things that were “morally just or helpful to others” added nothing to fluency, he contended.